Although slavery and assumption are two topics that became built into the fabric of American society, Washington’s plea in his farewell address to remain neutral in European affairs did not. As George Washington left office, he realized that in order to secure the continuation and success of the union, the United States could not become entangled in European affairs and wars. In fact, one of the key policies of his presidency was the Proclamation of Neutrality in 1793, which declared the U.S. as an unbiased spectator of European conflict. However, Washington’s words of wisdom were not evident within his second term. In 1794, Washington sent Chief Justice John Jay to England to try to bargain out of a war with England. The treaty was evidently in England’s favor, and thus linked American success to the British fleet and economy. Although Washington’s intent to avoid war with England succeeded for the moment, what became known as Jay’s Treaty had terrible repercussions upon Washington’s desire for neutrality. Instead of arguing about whether or not to remain neutral, the American people, and the many delegates in Congress argued upon whether to support England or France in the near future. The United States was now arguing about the wrong matter: whom to lend its assistance. Washington’s warning in his Farewell Address should have been incorporated into the essential principles of American society. However, with the Louisiana Purchase (1803) and the War of 1812, the hope that the United States would remain out of European affairs was impossible. In fact, the complete opposite has been built into our national identity: we have become entangled in every world affair possible. The United States, throughout the nineteenth and certainly twentieth centuries has become the world’s policeman. Washington’s original argument to remain nonaligned was not only never resolved, but also never developed into the framework of American society.

The topic of assumption of state debts by the federal government illustrates the broader argument of federalism versus republicanism, and has continued as an American economic disagreement many years after the American Revolution. With the United States’ debt only growing after the Revolutio

Some topics in this essay:
War Federalists, Louisiana Purchase, Constitution Arguments, United States’, American History…, Civil War, American Revolution, James Madison, Federalists Hamilton, South Southerners, american society, federal government, united states’, american revolution, slave trade, assumption debts, revolutionary era, european affairs, federal versus, revolutionary generation, debts federal government, built national identity, framework american society,